Renee Fleming delivers a soaring National Anthem

It wasn’t a “La Bohème” garret or a bullring in Seville. But MetLife Stadium, packed with more than 80,000 football fans, was a backdrop with more than enough verismo to inspire soprano Renée Fleming to a soaring rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” From the diaphragm, of course.

With the Armed Forces Chorus providing background harmonies, and a barrage of fireworks punctuating “the bombs bursting in air,” Fleming sang an almost thoughtful version of the song, with impressionistic orchestrations that made the national anthem less a bold anthem of defiance than an intense meditation on our trials, troubles and sacrifices.

Where soul singers like Aaron Neville and Alicia Keys, in past Super Bowls, have brought gospel flourishes to “The Star Spangled Banner,” Fleming brought some of her classical chops to bear, including rubato (the speeding up and slowing down of a musical phrase, as the emotion takes hold) and a high note above the notoriously difficult high note in “land of the free.”

In addition to being outdoors, in a wintry latitude, Super Bowl XLVIII was notable for its closeness to America’s cultural capital — the New York metro area. So it was only natural that the NFL would look to Lincoln Center, when it came time to choose the celebrity singer who would give the Broncos and Seahawks their sendoff on Sunday.

Just as it was natural that they hedge their bets. Newark’s own Queen Latifah, backed by the New Jersey Youth Chorus, was brought in as an added attraction to do a soul-inflected “America the Beautiful” — the song that many people wish was the national anthem.

As with the halftime entertainment, the national anthem part of the Super Bowl program has evolved over 48 years. What started as a simple patriotic formality (the University of Arizona and University of Michigan bands played the first Super Bowl “Star Spangled Banner” in 1967) has now become a showcase for superstars who want to live dangerously. Will Billy Joel (Super Bowl XXIII, 1989) and Garth Brooks (Super Bowl XXVII, 1993) be able to hit that high note in the last line? Just how many over-the-top, melismatic gospel flourishes will Beyoncé (Super Bowl XXXVIII, 2004) or Jennifer Hudson (Super Bowl XLIII, 2009) introduce into “the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air”?